‘G.I. Joe 3’ Plot Spoilers, Cast Update: Franchise to center on Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson; Can Paramount afford Channing Tatum back?

By Staff Writer

May 12 2015, 11:10 AM EDT

"G.I. Joe 3" has been given the go signal for development although Paramount Pictures has not given a release date yet. The important question that bugs avid fans is that will Channing Tatum return for the said sequel?

As the successful series starred Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in its second film in "G.I. Joe: Retaliation", the franchise has practically become his movie. Yet, no one can deny that having Channing Tatum who played Duke in the first film "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" in "G.I. Joe 3" will make the team-up more fantastic - that is if they ever become a team in the Hasbro toy line-inspired movie.

If the charming Tatum returns as an antagonist, fans would surely be sad and surprised initially, but everyone can forgive the screen writers in exchange for the thrill of having Tatum versus "The Rock" face-off. Now that would be really huge and unimaginable.

As long as the plot doesn't come out, everything is possible in G.I. Joe series - even as how resurrecting Tatum back would not be too much of a hassle since fans are used to seeing dead characters returning with quite no explanations at all. Case in point is Storm Shadow played by Byung - Hun Lee.

As how "Retaliation" Director Jon Chu puts it in his interview with MTV, "You never know, Storm Shadow died in the first one and came back in the second one, and then other characters have died and never come back. The G.I. Joe world, the best thing about it is you never know who's coming back and who's not."

Paramount is sure upping the stakes as it even tapped Aaron Berg, the writer behind "Section 6," that caused a bidding war among movie companies including Universal Pictures in late 2013.

Berg will work with Director D.J. Caruso, who helmed the second movie and garnered $375 million in the box office, to maneuver the filming for the part three. Although the first film "Rise of Cobra" grossed only $302 million, a $73 million less, critics reason that it is due to The Rock's fame that got such gap.

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson has already signed up for "G.I. Joe 3" and will eventually start filming with or without Channing Tatum. But first things first, Paramount really needs to set a release date to help appease the waiting fans.